Kyle Kalis, a 5-star OL and Tosu* de-commit, chose the Wolverines after an unofficial visit on Sunday. Kalis is the sixth-ranked offensive tackle in the country, the best player in Ohio and, according to MGo's TomVH, is already recruiting for Michigan.

Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark.

This comes on the heals of 4-star Akron DB Jarrod Wilson committing on Friday. Wilson is ranked as the #13 DB in the country by Rivals.

Yeah, I know Tosu* was gonna take a huge hit recruiting-wise after they were finally busted for cheating, but what Hoke is doing is nothing short of spectacular at this point. I've heard of coaches "putting a fence" around their own state, but who knew Hoke's extended all the way down to the Kentucky border.

Right now, Ohio State is in the "circle the wagons" and "survival" process.

I don't expect the NCAA to accept the small tokens the current adminstration has taken to fix the problems -- but I also don't expect the NCAA to do something that would kill the program the way we all would love to see.

The truth is, football is waaaay too important to the people in Ohio and the OSU adminstration is never going to internally hammer the program into compliance -- creating a decade long 'cellar dweller' situation we faced with our basketball program after the Ed Martin transgressions.

They will lose a handful of scholarships, miss a bowl game or two, take a temporary step down from their perch on top of the B10 - and all will be forgotten once the NCAA turns its eyes towards Oregon & Auburn. But there will always be good high school football players in Ohio that have grown up dreaming of playing for the Bucks. The best I can hope for is a swing back to the time period in this rivalry where both teams won games. We have not seen this balance in a while.

In the short term. Like a wounded wild animal, they are still very dangerous. I fully expect Ohio State to recover, likely faster than anyone around here wants them to. Keep in mind, even without Pryor, the 2011 Buckeye football team is MUCH more talented than most of the B10. Certainly more talented than the squad of smurfs Brady Hoke will able to throw out on the field in November. Add in the "us against the world" attitude that Luke Fickell is going to build -- and I won't be surprised at all if we are beaten handily once again this year.

2012 in Columbus is going to be the key game for us to drive this rivalry back in our favor.

they are, however, going to have to play on a level field. the long term effect of this, whether they get more sanctions or not, is that they are going to have to recruit w/ out the cars & tats/cash. they are still going to get a lot of good players, but if the new era costs them just one stand out recruit (who seemed to be interested in the extra perks- ala Clarett, Troy Smith, Santonio Holmes, or T Pryor), it'll make a difference.

yeah, they'll still be very good. no doubt. but just one of those guys above NOT playing for tosu? that's the difference between winning 9 or 10 games, instead of 11 or 12 (essentially, how many Heisman trophy winners/candidates does it take before you have a competitive advantage?).

they'll be good. they'll probably beat us at least half the time. they'll win their share of titles. just like they did for the 2 decades before they hired the lying, cheating coach.

but they won't win 7 conference championships in a row. they won't string together decade long winning streaks.

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